Marie Antoinette, animatrix of the Petit Trianon, had a special fancy for the cotton toiles de Jouy, introduced into France in the 1770s, for chinoiserie or pastoral scenes in the style of Boucher.

However, he obediently sat down and shut his eyes. After a while he opened them and said, “I must have been able to 'unmagic' a crow just by being kind to it, and I was able to contact trees and things in the garden."

He's got some bad news in store for us, judging from his mood.

Mamata Banerjee, b. 1955